Such a wonderful morning here yesterday. Everything looks so clean and bright when the sun is out.
There is a huge stage set up in the forecourt of the town hall, glad it has a cover because it is drizzling today, Saturday.
Also in the town hall is a free exhibition of the photos of Brassai which I'll visit with Richard when we come back in early January.
So to the Tuilerie Gardens, very different to when I was last here in September 2010. But very regal and fantastic.
This is a shot across the large round pool towards the Musee D'Orsay.
This looks straight back to the Louvre
The clouds are something else.
This view is towards the Place de la Concorde with the big ferris wheel.
I love this formal park and thoroughfare.
When the trees are in foliage these walkways are so shady and cool
Sculptures along the way
No! A Henry Moore in Paris?!!
This is looking back up the park
Looking west to the Eiffel Tower from the top of the Place de la Concorde
Ironic how it's called the place of peace as this obelisk marks the site of the guillotine
Now the ferris wheel is set up - I bought a yummy strawberry crepe and hot chocolate to warm the cockles of my stomach.
So this view is west which I an guessing leads up to the Madeleine.
Terrific work by Dubuffet in the little square next to Jeu de Paume
The Jeu de Paume is on the other side of the park to the Orangerie. This gallery is for photography.
This is a Parisian traffic jam! The Place de la Concorde was pretty crazy yesterday. There were police changing the traffic to allow some very important looking convoys of VIPs to zoom through. This was a grid lock.
I was thrilled to come across this work by Louise Bourgeois!
The bronze series of the hands are a wonderful combination of her hands and those of her dear assistant in her New York studio.
At TAFE earlier this year we saw the fabulous DVD on the life of Louise Bourgeois and in it she and her assistant were taking photos for this.
I guess they had to have a mold made for each arrangement.
They are arranged on top of large blocks of granite.
So great just to come across them and know that they are a special work by a great artist.
This was so tiny on the huge block that I had to take a close up.
Yes dear Louise Bourgeois - the plaque hasn't been updated to include the year she died, 1910.
The sun came out and this pool looked wonderful.
So back in the Orsay and a view back up to Montmartre, clearer today.
This is across to Garnier's Opera House. That's another place I haven't yet ventured.
I visited all the Salons I missed on my first visit and these were the galleries of furniture and decorative arts from Art Noveau and a gallery of decorative schemes of the Nabis. there was one decorative comprising of seven large works by Odilon Redon which was just supurb.
Up on the 5th level is a platform which overlooks the whole place.
The detailing on the roof is lovely.
I was always confused by the design pf the place by this sort of a view but you are looking at two levels of galleries. The lower level has the inclining floor with packed galleries off on both sides. The second level has much more sculpture and more galleries off the central space. Then on the fifth level running the entire length of the building are the galleries for Impressionism.
This great clock is at the entrance end of the museum.
Home in the twilight. First I went down into the archeological museum and then when I was walking home past the cathedral i found the tree in all its glory!
This was a lovely Friday.
I did go into the Orangerie, again no photos allowed and lots of staff checking everyone. It was a challenge getting in - the line was incredibly long which is why having a museum pass and finding the shorter line makes paying for the pass worthwhile.
The two rooms with Monet's Waterlillies were fantastic. Great to get up close and see all the paintwork. Truly you see every wonderful combination of colour and dischords ever mixed. Downstairs there is a long hall with Renoirs then some great Cezannes. I saw some wonderful Picassos, two from about 1905 plus the Grande Nue from about 1921. The eighteen paintings by Soutine were just wonderful. There was a lovely small room with Picasso alongside some Matisses. The only jangle was the dreadful later work by Andre Derain. I think the war just destroyed him.
The temporary exhibition space had a comprehensive show of the work of Frieda Kahlo and Diego Riviera. This was packed and claustrophobic. The small works by Kahlo were powerful and there was a large painting by Diego Riviera of arum lillies that I will look up for someone back in Albury.
A great Friday in Paris.
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